Landlords challenge city’s rental-registration program

A real-estate organization is asking the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to stop the city’s rental-registration program claiming it is unconstitutional.

The Mahoning Valley Real Estate Investors Association filed a request Wednesday for a temporary restraining order and for a preliminary injunction hearing to be held. Magistrate Eugene J. Fehr rejected the TRO request today and scheduled the hearing for 2 p.m. July 13.

“We’re very confident there will be a dismissal before the 13th,” said city Prosecutor Jay Macejko. “We’re pretty confident should the hearing go forward, we’ll prevail.”

Mark Hanni — attorney for the 70-member association and its president, Sherry DeMar — wrote in the complaint that the program is unconstitutional because it’s “vague,” violates “the property owners’ right to be free from unreasonable searches,” and the program “is not a valid exercise of the city’s power to license.”